Posted - 06/23/2011 : 07:37:51 Everyone know that the Philadelphia Flyers are now in serious cap trouble after the apparent signing of Liya Bryzgalov. To make room, some talented players will have to leave.

Quite simply, who is going to be the best player to leave Philly?

"Take off, eh?" - Bob and Doug

13 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First)

nuxfan

Posted - 06/23/2011 : 18:05:56 its the classic "you have to give something up to get something back". I think its pretty ballsy dealing your captain and other semi-franchise player in Carter on the same day. I think I'd have a heart attack if Gillis traded Hank and Kesler on the same day

But I have to admit, this looks like a series of deals where all parties got what they needed:

PHI gets rid of some long (potentially bad later on) contracts and a reported personality issue in Richards, and gets much needed cap space as well as a basket of prospects and high draft picks.

LA gets one of the best 2-way centres in the league that sets them up down the middle with one of the best tandems in the NHL. LA has been missing that strong second line for a while.

CBJ gets that great first line centre to play with Nash, and take some of the pressure off of Nash to continuously score.

I agree with others, LA looks to have seriously improved their team for this coming year. They're gonna be scary. I wonder if Smyth still wants to go back to EDM

Beans15

Posted - 06/23/2011 : 15:22:15 Ya, I agree Slozo. I think 99.99% of people would have said one or the other. However, when looking at the centres they have there (Giroux and Van Reimsdyk) playing out of position as well as the players they picked up today in Schenn, Voracek, and Simmonds it makes sense. It also gives guys like Hartnell and Lieno a chance to move up in the depth chart.

Add in 3 draft picks, including #8 over all and a legitimate starting goalie??? Pretty impressive moves by Holmgren.

slozo

Posted - 06/23/2011 : 15:12:04 Who would have thought Mike Richards was going AND Jeff Carter?

Not me, and not anyone else, I gather.

Shocker of a trade and sign day . . . and the eastern conference lost two very good players today.

"Take off, eh?" - Bob and Doug

Alex116

Posted - 06/23/2011 : 14:13:07 Yup, it's a done deal, as is the Carter deal. I'm pretty shocked they moved both of these guys!

Posted - 06/23/2011 : 13:20:44 Nuxfan is this Richards a done deal or simply hearsay for the time being??

Every journey begins with a single step.

nuxfan

Posted - 06/23/2011 : 13:13:36 I'd say wow, but I'm currently eating my words. I was convinced that PHI would not move Richards.

Richards to LA, that is a huge deal. Great pickup by LA, thats some kind of 1-2 punch down the middle with Kopitar. Simmonds and Schenn back to PHI, clearly looking to the future with those two.

Guest2712

Posted - 06/23/2011 : 13:09:55 apparently another done deal is Mike Richards to LA in exchange for Schenn and Simmonds.

nuxfan

Posted - 06/23/2011 : 12:32:30 and there we have it, the first big move. TSN is reporting:

to CBJ - Jeff Carter

to PHI - Voracek (RFA), 2011 1st round pick, 2011 3rd round pick

Good move for both teams - I'm sure CBJ is salivating at the idea of Nash and Carter together, and Voracek is a promising young forward who is RFA. CBJ's first rounder is top-10, so nice for rebuilding.

Beans15

Posted - 06/23/2011 : 10:08:39 From Capgeek.com, Philly has $58.9 million committed to 18 players. If they sign Bryzgalov to that 7yr/$50 million contract it would add over $7 million to their cap hit putting them at $65.9 million, or over nearly $2 million on the projected 11/12 cap. They would have to sign another 4 players just to ice a team and even if they did league min for those players it would be a little more than $2.0 million more. That would put them at $67.5 million of $4 million over the cap.

Versteeg is $3 million, Colbourn is $3.2 million. That would give them the cap flex they need. They would have to sign 2 more players to fill those spots, against at league min which would get them to a $62.5 million cap hit, or about $1 million in available space.

The cap issue can be solved quite easily. However, this would also ice a team with at least 5 or more league min players. Short term fix to say the least and not something a team chasing the Cup would want.

slozo

Posted - 06/23/2011 : 08:55:48 Well, Nick Kypreos tweeted yesterday that a deal is all but done, and he stood by his story later when inundated with requests to confirm same, especially at the reported size of the deal.

To compound this, I have heard that Byzgalov is saying nothing but nice things about Philly as a city; he is travelling around Philly and looking at houses and areas; and he gave an interview for Russian tv in a Philly baseball cap.

Reportedly, the announcement may come only on Monday AFTER the draft, so that moves to accomodate his salary can be made before his official signing to get the Flyers under the cap.

Again - that's just what I heard, so you can take that with however large a grain of salt you want to. But, knowing Kypreos pretty well (on Toronto sports radio quite often as an "insider"), he is surprisingly reliable as a source of breaking news, going by history.

I would tend to believe Kipper and his 7 years for 50 mil story . .. whether it is front loaded, and how much the cap hit is, I can only guess at - but even if the cap hit is over 5.5 mil, it's significant, and a big piece would absolutely have to move, IMHO. If it's a 6mil or more cap hit . . . looks like multiple players, to me.

"Take off, eh?" - Bob and Doug

nuxfan

Posted - 06/23/2011 : 08:44:44 too early to tell. The quality and/or number of players leaving PHI absolutely depends on whether Bryz is signed, and for how much per season.

I still think there is a fair chance that Bryz is not signed by PHI, or is signed at a lot less than the numbers being thrown out there - 7M a year is a high price to pay for a goalie in the cap age if you want to field a strong team, and even more ridiculous for a team like PHI that has loaded up on high priced talent outside of the net.

Alex116

Posted - 06/23/2011 : 07:45:28 I say Carter, but that's only because of his name being the most prominent in rumours. I could see others as well including Leino and Hartnell. Briere's contract is too rich for a team to take on IMO, though he's certainly proved his worth in the playoffs in the recent past!